Selling branded products on Amazon

Amazon is one of the biggest selling platforms for ecommerce businesses, however it is only in the last few years, they’ve tightened up their policies regarding selling branded products on the marketplace. We take a look at what you need to do before you start selling branded products on Amazon, what Amazon’s Brand Registry is, and what kind of problems you might encounter by selling branded products on Amazon.

How to sell your own branded products on Amazon

If you have your own, branded, products to sell and you are the only supplier/seller of them then you can ensure that you are the exclusive seller on Amazon by registering for their Brand Registry.

Amazon Brand Registry is suitable if you manufacture your own products, you produce branded, custom and hand-made products, you’re a private label brand owner, or you are the only distributor of a product on Amazon.

Once you have applied to the Brand Registry and been approved you will be given unique Amazon Standard Identification Numbers (ASINs) for your products and no other sellers will be able to list the same items from your detail pages. You will have complete control over the content of your product detail pages including the product descriptions and photographs. It also has the added benefit that as the only seller for that product you will always have the Buy Box for them.

To apply for Amazon Brand Registry you will need to provide:

• Your brand name that’s registered as a trademark
  
• Trademark number
  
• Whether it’s an EU trademark or a national trademark (and which country)
  
• Images of the brand’s logo if you have one
  
• Images of products and packaging that have the brand name on. If the product isn’t branded then the packaging needs to be branded
  
• A list of product categories that the mark is registered for.
  
• A list of countries where the brand’s products are manufactured and distributed.
  

Find out more about Amazon Brand Registry here.  

Reselling branded products on Amazon

If you are selling branded products that you are not the manufacturer of then you need to make sure that you have permission to resell them on Amazon. Some brands are reluctant for their products to be sold on marketplaces such as Amazon so will prohibit them being sold altogether, while other brands only let certain suppliers distribute their products. If you have permission to resell these branded products on Amazon you will also need to make sure that they are authentic items.

Copyright infringement on Amazon

Purchasing your stock from a supplier doesn’t necessarily mean that you have right to sell these items on Amazon - the supplier may not hold the relevant copyright for branded products.  If you are creating a product detail page on Amazon you also need to make sure that you have permission to use any images of the product that you find or are supplied with. One of the common causes for account suspensions on Amazon is a copyright infringement issue.

Copyright holders are able to report any listings that violate their rights using this form. Once Amazon receives a complaint they will notify you and suspend your listings or your selling privileges.

If you receive a copyright infringement complaint from Amazon you need to thoroughly check your listings to work out what has caused the issue. Make sure you have permission to sell that product from the owner of the brand, and ensure that you are allowed to use the product photos. You will need to provide proof of permission to sell that product from the copyright holder, if you don’t have this then you need to delete the listing and avoid selling it in the future.

Find out more about intellectual property violations on Amazon here.

Inauthentic items on Amazon

The other risk with branded products is being accused of selling inauthentic items - this could mean that the product is not a genuine version of that product or that you have listed it on the wrong product detail page.

Make sure that you review all your suppliers and all your stock when it arrives to ensure that they are genuine products. It’s also essential that you list your product against the exact same product detail page on Amazon so that buyers aren’t expecting something different when their order arrives. It’s important that you keep all invoices for your stock so that you can demonstrate your supply chain and provide them as evidence if you encounter any issues.

Find out more about what to do if your Amazon account is suspended here.